Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer in the Rob Reiner movie ‘This Is Spinal Tap’

The first movie directed by Rob Reiner was the satirical comedy of a fictional band coming to the United States from the England named This Is Spinal Tap (1984). The fictional band is fronted by stars Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer, with the film’s director in the role of a reporter covering the band. Airport Friend, a supporter of Matt Lynn Digital, has declared his appreciation for the humor of this movie.

(From left, Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls, Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel and Michael McKean as David St. Hubbins in the Rob Reiner movie This Is Spinal Tap).

Rob Reiner stars as Martin ‘Marty’ Di Bergi, a documentary filmmaker who follows the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap on their American tour. Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel, Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls and Michael McKean as David St. Hubbins portray the band that portrays the odd pretensions of a band that cannot decide who they are. The comedy begins with a revelation that the band cannot settle on a name or style, though do come to America in support of their so called Smell the Glove tour.

(From left, Tony Hendra as Ian Faith and Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel in the Rob Reiner movie This Is Spinal Tap).

Ian Faith, as portrayed by Tony Hendra, begins the tour as the band’s manager. Owing to low ticket sales prompted in part from a sexist album cover for the album that the tour is intended to promote, tensions between the band and Faith increase due to both issues. After the distributor unilaterally releases the band’s album with an all-black cover, sales don’t improve. The hypocrisy of the situation hits a new low when autograph sessions for the album fail to draw fans.

(From left, Rob Reiner as Martin ‘Marty’ Di Bergi, Fran Drescher as Bobbi Flekman and June Chadwick as Jeanine Pettibone in the Rob Reiner movie This Is Spinal Tap).

The girlfriend of band singer David St. Hubbins, a devotee of yoga and astrology named Jeanine Pettibone, aims to inject herself into the band’s costumes and stage presentation at this point. This leads to Nigel Tufnel sketching plans for a Stonehenge theming for the band on a napkin, labeling the dimensions in inches rather than feet. When props meant to replicate the life size Stonehenge yet coming in at less than one-third the height of a human being, the joke is on the band. Jeanine Pettibone was portrayed by June Chadwick.

(From left, Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls and Gloria Gifford as the airport security officer with the security wand in the Rob Reiner movie This Is Spinal Tap).

A collection of errors continues to plague the band from here, with smaller and smaller tour venues, equipment errors and ultimately members and band managers leaving the band. To those that get or will get the humor of saying that the movie ends with a bang, let me say that I salute you. My rating for This Is Spinal Tap as directed by Rob Reiner is 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Jack Nicholson and the film ‘A Few Good Men’

We go back to the military courtroom drama for today’s review of the film A Few Good Men (1992). Rob Reiner directed the screenplay  written by Aaron Sorkin. The tale of a Navy lawyer who has never seen the inside of the courtroom defending two reticent Marines accused of murdering a colleague, an ensemble cast to rival ensemble casts offers a compelling experience worthy of the four Academy Award nominations the film received.

(Wolfgang Bodison as Lance Cpl. Harold W. Dawson, left, and James Marshall as Pfc. Louden Downey in the film A Few Good Men).

Marines Lance Cpl. Harold W. Dawson (portrayed by Wolfgang Bodsion) and Pfc. Loudon Downey (portrayed by James Marshall) face a general Court-martial for allegedly murdering fellow marine Pfc. William Santiago in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. As the military superficially looks for a quick resolution to this matter, Lt. Daniel Kaffee (portrayed by Tom Cruise) is assigned the case owing to his propensity for arranging plea bargains for every case he handles.

(From left to right are Tom Cruise as Lt. Daniel Kaffee, Demi Moore as Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway, and Kevin Pollak as Lt. Sam Weinberg in the film A Few Good Men).

Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway (portrayed by Demi Moore) catches the case originally, with the military looking to assign the case to Kaffee. Lt. Sam Weinberg (as portrayed by Kevin Pollak) also is assigned to offer whatever logistical support will be necessary, which initially seems like little to nothing. As Dawson and Downey seek a vigorous defense, the matter will proceed to the full general Court-martial some had hoped to avoid.

(Kevin Bacon as Capt. Jack Ross in the film A Few Good Men).

Opposing council for the proceedings is led by Capt. Jack Ross (portrayed by Kevin Bacon). Ross plays an ultimately straight-laced character who offers sometimes candid advice to his opposing council regarding the severity of the judicial process to Lt. Daniel Kaffee. The larger question of guilt or innocence underpinning much of the drama within this is whether the action undertaken by Downey and Dawson occurred at the behest of Guantánamo Bay marine commander Col. Nathan R. Jessep (portrayed by Jack Nicholson).

(Jack Nicholson as Col. Nathan R. Jessep in the film A Few Good Men).

Col. Nathan R. Jessep is shown through multiple scenes in A Few Good Men to possess a coldly calculating, fierce, and domineering personality that if felt, minimally, to the people under his command. At the heart of the drama is learning the methods and ends of Jessep’s leadership style, as well as whether Kaffee, Galloway, and Weinberg have the wherewithal to go the distance against Jessep through the Court-martial to produce a just outcome for Downey and Dawson.

( J.T. Walsh as Lt. Col. Matthew Andrew Markinson, top left, Kiefer Sutherland as 2nd. Lt. Jonathan Kendrick, top right Noah Wyle as Cpl. Jeffrey Barnes, bottom left, and Cuba Gooding Jr. as Cpl. Carl Hammaker, bottom right, in the film A Few Good Men).

Playing more significant supporting roles in moving the story of A Few Good Men to that end are Lt. Col. Matthew Andrew Markinson (as portrayed by J.T. Walsh) and 2nd. Lt. Jonathan Kendrick (as portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland). Less significant supporting roles were included Cpl. Jeffrey Barnes (as portrayed by Noah Wyle), and Cpl. Carl Hammaker (as portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr.).

(Screenplay writer Aaron Sorkin, left, and director Rob Reiner from the film A Few Good Men).

The dramatic presentation and emotional depth of the film A Few Good Men made for a compelling experience. Is there justice for all within this film? Do each of the individual characters deserve the fate they received? Could the stakes raised in the film have happened in real life? For that last question, the answer is the real life case the film seems to be based on was more violent. All told, the experience to be had is worth the time and emotional investment. For that, A Few Good Men earns 4.0-stars on a scale of one-to-five stars.

Matt – Saturday, July 20, 2019

Top 20 Movie “The Princess Bride”

Top 20 Movie The Princess Bride (1987) ranks 8th in Matt Lynn Digital’s Top 20 Movies in ranked order listing. The Willy DeVille song Storybook Love from this Rob Reiner-directed fantasy adventure merited a Best Original Song Academy Award nomination. The Princess Bride is family friendly with satisfyingly clean humor and engaging dialogue that smiles with you during many moments of cleverness and comedy.

The movie The Princess Bride is framed around the concept of a grandfather coming to comfort his sick grandson by reading the book sharing the title of the movie. Peter Falk plays the grandfather to the grandson as played by Fred Savage. I was a sucker to the era-appropriate baseball game Hardball! was played by the grandson near the beginning of the introduction of these two. Here’s a glimpse of the game play for Hardball!.

(Fred Savage, left, and Peter Falk)

The theme of the story as read from grandfather to grandson is one of true love. This theme of love is strong throughout the movie as well as the book. The book reading emphasizes the love that Westley and Buttercup have for one another along with the lengths each goes in feeling as well as providing for that love. Westley cannot afford to properly marry at the point of love’s first declaration, so sails off to earn the living that will sustain them.

(Cary Elwes as Westley and Robin Wright as Buttercup).

The foil to that love in the story is Prince Humperdinck, who we meet five years after the declaration of Westley and Buttercup’s love. Humperdinck has authority to demand Buttercup’s hand in marriage.

This Chris Sarandon character (Humperdinck) had set the dizzying Vizzini, the rhyming brute Fezzik, and the aggrieved drunk Inigo Montoya on a quest to beget war between Florin and Guilder in the misguided hope of winning Buttercup’s emotional hand in the dictated marriage. Wallace Shawn, Andre the Giant, and Mandy Patinkin offer much in raising clean, clever dialogue to their roles together and throughout the film.

(Vizzini left, Inigo Montoya center, and Fezzik)

Humperdinck’s misguided search for love complicates the true love between Westley and Buttercup, which guides the tip of the cap swashbuckling in the film. This creates much of the films tension as well. Inigo Montoya’s story of living in the revenge business after the 6-fingered man killed his father is, in my opinion, another tale of true love misguided towards vengeance. The line “My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die” is succinct to that feeling, as is later Montoya’s invoking a recognition of Westley’s “sound of ultimate suffering” when Humperdinck nearly ends him in the Machine contained in ‘The Pit of Despair.’

The movie culminates in the daring use of the Dread Pirate Roberts motif to help save the day. Prince Humperdinck gets put in his place. Billy Crystal as Miracle Max helps bring about saving Westley with an assist from Carol Kane as Valerie. It is Valerie who advocates for true love against the fear of Miracle Max. This particular scene is telling in reinforcing the beginning of Inigo Montoya’s course correction because it is an echoing of Montoya’s revenge quest in Max that helps Max to decide in acting against Humperdinck and for the true love of Westley and Buttercup.

(Miracle Max and Valerie — “Have fun storming the castle.”)

In the end, Westley and Buttercup rekindle true love. Inigo Montoya finds peace in taking the role of Dread Pirate Roberts in place of Westley. Fezzik finally finds his way to doing something right. Additionally, the movie’s frame ties out with the true love of grandson and grandfather when the grandson asks his grandpa to come back tomorrow to read the book over again.

Here’s one final piece of personal satisfaction. Lynn and I watched this movie together for the first time on the fine afternoon of June 9th, 2013. About two hours later that day, Lynn agreed to become my princess bride when she agreed to accept my hand in marriage.

Matt – Wednesday, December 20, 2017